Location-based applications on mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular, and consequently more sophisticated. One growing area of development concerns applications for use in large public spaces, such as airports, shopping centres, car parks, Hospitals and the like. Such applications can make use of Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine a device's location, but GPS technology may not work reliably indoors. So today, many applications can alternatively or additionally make use of other technologies, such as Wi-Fi triangulation or Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons, within said public spaces to provide their location specific services. For example, it may be desirable to provide an application for use in an event stadium, whereby specific services can be offered based on where a spectator is seated. For example, it may be desirable to provide users in premium seating with a service that allows them to order consumables directly to their seat. As another example, airline operators may wish to provide passengers with a guide for navigating a particular airport, such a route or set of instructions for transferring between flights or locating a particular passenger lounge.
Such services can require very accurate location information in order to provide the full level of desired functionality, and therefore testing of such applications at the ground level is critical to ensure proper functionality. However, application developers are typically not in a position to conduct such testing themselves, and consequently testing by local personnel is normally required at each site. This testing is often done on an ad-hoc basis with the local testing person carrying the mobile device around in their hand on the site and later reporting back on any identified problems. This can be inefficient and result in problems with the applications being missed or misreported.
Consequently, it would be desirable to improve the manner in which location-based application for mobile devices can be tested on site.